Television drama rarely receives the analytical attention paid to a landmark painting, sculpture, play, poem or film, frequently marginalised as a piece of fleeting popular culture rather than
‘a more lasting art form’. The disappearance of many 1950s and 1960s TV dramas – the videotape wiped and re-used – seems merely to confirm its temporary status. The emergence of television
studies has helped to question this mind-set. Innovative television drama can rival any field of the arts in terms of material worthy of critical exploration. This series of books focuses on
‘outstanding’ examples of British television dramas, centring on a single episode in an attempt to explain what makes both the episode in particular, and the series in general, remarkable. The
social context, script, characters sets/locations, music, and direction are all focal points. Classic British Television Drama (CBTD) opens with an exploration of The Avengers story The Hour
That Never Was. It takes artistic risks while visually exploring the subject of ‘two against the underworld’.
